Today Vs. Then: 37 Teachers Share The Most Profound Changes In Students

28 years of experience... It's genuine kindness. Kids are so much more kind now than they were when I started in the 90s. They are so accepting of kids of different races, gender identities, intellectual differences like autism. "Accepting" isn't even a strong enough word. Kids that would be in such different social circles due to peer pressure in the 90s are friends now. I'm a straight white guy that was in high school in the 80s. I wish I was brave enough then to be as kind as kids are now.

I have plenty of complaints about phone addiction or the inability to multiply 5x4 without a calculator, but this is the most kind generation of students I've ever taught.

As an English (as a foreign language) teacher, heres a positive one: the internet/phones/tablets have made English accessible for EVERYONE.

Even in countries like Egypt where the parents speak no English at all I'm noticing their kids having a great base level just from playing on their phones. Its pretty cool! Even young kids know quite a bit now

Entitlement.

And not just in regards to phones. It’s everything.

I’ve been teaching since 1992. Attention spans have decreased. Dependency on spell check. Terrible handwriting. No accountability or behavioral consequences.

I thought about this today. I’ve taught high school for a decade, prior to that I was a long-term substitute teacher on and off for five years. Parents paid more attention to their kids 15 years ago. Now, they believe everything that comes out of their precious little mouths. For instance, I had to call a parent because little Johnny had 10 missing assignments. I told her and explained that he needed to make a 70 to pass and probably wouldn’t with that amount of missing activities. She said that it would be taken care of. Then the next day emailed me to say that Little Johnny told her he submitted everything and I refused to grade them. Like why would I refuse to grade a kids assignments? I’m 47.

Biggest change I see since I began in 2010 is admin not being supportive of teachers. When I began, if a kid mouthed off to me, the admin would issue punishment up to suspension. Now, I am the one punished because their attitude is all my fault.

Past: Class of 20, 1 or 2 difficult kids, maybe 3 annoying kids, and 15 really good hard working kids that want to learn. Most parents supportive.

Present: class of 20: 5-7 behavior problems, one of those a major problem, 7 -8 unmotivated and uninterested kids. 5-7 hard working kids that want to learn. Most parents not involved.

Nothing keeps their attention anymore and nothing motivates them. I get them gift bags with a few goodies and I get multiple kids saying, "That's it?" It's not all of them but the apathy is found in the majority now.

No one enjoys reading anymore. Reading for fun feels nonexistent right now. I have a lot of readers below grade level as well. I’m cleaning out my classroom library right now and I feel so sad that it’s been neglected all year.

Phone addiction. Their parents, too.

Kids just seem dumber overall. Could be the area I teach in, but basic math and literacy skills have constantly trended downward here. We keep lowering the bar for interventions because we don't have enough spots if half the school needs math and reading support.

Not sure why, but they are definitely dumber on average in my area. I still always get a handful of really bright kids which is nice.

Year 22 starts in July. I don't know if I can put it in words, but there's an air that little children have--it's a combination of silliness, joy, fearlessness, creativity, curiosity, imagination, and sweetness. Occasionally some naughtiness creeps in but it's all very innocent. 


They want to climb the tree on the playground all by themselves and they want to know why that chrysalis didn't ever open. They jump up to do the silly dance and hold a friend's hand when they're nervous during a fire drill. They're excited when you hand them a new book or toy or a piece of candy. They want to show you their new backpack and when you give them free choice time, they know exactly what to build or draw. 


I've taught K-1 most of my career and while many little kids still have all of these qualities, it's astonishing how many kids don't. You hand them a piece of paper and they say "I don't know what to draw" or "I don't like to color". You encourage a little tree climbing at recess and they say "No, I could fall". You put on a silly dancing song and they not only refuse to stand up, they sit there whining "This is BORING". The water during Science turns blue and they say "Whatever." 


I think they're growing up too fast. They're physically risk-adverse but they'll talk to strangers on Snapchat. They're afraid of looking silly or getting dirty or drawing attention to themselves by asking a question. They'd rather be on their phones more than anything in the whole wide world, but since they're at school, a Chromebook will do. If they're asked to do something challenging or "boring" they'll run to the counselor to complain about their big feelings so they can get access to a screen to "calm down".


My kids are 5-8, generally, and they've just...lost a huge developmentally appropriate part of their childhoods. It's going to have long-lasting societal repercussions.

level of curiosity . . . almost non-existent today. When I started in the 90s, there were always a handful of students in every class that wanted to know "why?", but in recent years, it's either "just tell me the answer" (If they haven't already Googled it) or "who cares? Just mark it wrong".

I’ve moved schools so I’m gonna have a rare opinion; they got much better in every area possible. Smarter, kinder, more respectful, self aware, less entitled.

The difference between Philly and the suburbs.

The reliance on an adult to solve any problem. Not being accountable to themselves.

I've been in early childhood for 10 years now, was a sub for about 5 years before that. What I've noticed since covid is a profound lack of social skills.

Not just a lack of curiosity or emotional disregulation, which I've seen in spades, but an inability to play or talk or cooperate with other kids. Each kid is their own little island and they have zero interest in visiting other islands.

I've literally had to teach five year olds how to play basic "toss the ball" games or "work together to build a wall of blocks" whereas before, they would be coming up with wacky calvin-ball type games on their own and pulling everyone under 4 feet tall into the game with barely any effort. Now, I might as well be trying to teach them physics in Klingon.

Screen addiction. To their phones. And when you take their phones away, it’s the school issued device screen. When you tell them to put those away they either sleep or get indignant - like how dare you tell them to do school while in school.

AI dependence. Because they can’t kick their screen addiction, they have terrible reading skills but also even worse writing skills. So they’ll turn to plagiarism and/or use AI. They also can’t spell or know when to capitalize things because every don’t read. This is high school.

Apathy. They just don’t care and/or see the value of education. Why bother because they’ll just become social media influencers or YouTubers. And with credit recovery, why bother passing the class while they’re sitting in it because they won’t write the paper. Despite the fact the teacher had a week of instruction of how to write the paper and class time to work on it and then another week to finish the paper. And daily reminders after that to turn it in. But they fail anyway because they didn’t turn it in, take the class in credit recovery where they never have to write a paper. Meanwhile, they waste their time staring at their phone during class.

It is all about the phone addiction and the ability to get anything they want on demand.

Like I can't show movies or videos anymore because it is all boring to them. It is boring because they have Netflix on their phone and they can watch whatever they want at any time. It isn't special to watch a movie.

Or kids have major trouble listening. I can give whole class instructions, but they don't listen. They have earbuds in or think it doesn't apply to them because there isn't an algorithmically generated content pop up for them.

Been teaching middle school for 12 years. Kids are now testing lower then ever. I’d say, I have around 10 - 15 middle schoolers that are testing at a 1st - 3rd grade level. Student also lack the ability to be resourceful and persevere. They give up the moment something gets too difficult. They can’t write and can barely hold a conversation. The parents are also getting lazier and dumber. I really feel like a lot of my parents should have had their tubes tied so they’d never have kids.

I am a newer teacher but just the past couple years have shown me that parents DESPERATELY need better rules/boundaries when it comes to tech. Elementary schoolers don’t need brand new iPhones or to be playing video games for hours unsupervised.

We have our own kiddo and I absolutely will not be giving her access to a smart phone until high school.